Of the three oceans that extend northward from the Antarctic continent, the Pacific is by far the largest, occupying about a third of the surface of the globe. Its area, excluding adjacent seas, encompasses about 63.8 million square miles (165.25 million square km). It has double the area and more than double the water volume of the Atlantic Ocean—the next largest division of the hydrosphere—and its area more than exceeds that of the whole land surface of the globe. The Pacific Ocean stretches from the shores of Antarctica to the Bering Strait through 135° of latitude, some 9,600 miles (15,500 km). Its greatest longitudinal extent measures some 12,000 miles (19,300 km) along latitude 5° N, between the coasts of Colombia in South America and the Malay Peninsula in Asia. The mean depth of the Pacific (excluding adjacent seas) is 14,040 feet (4,280 metres), and its greatest known depth is 36,201 feet (11,034 metres)—in the Mariana Trench—also the greatest depth found in any ocean.

In the Northern Hemisphere the Pacific Ocean meets the Arctic Ocean in the Bering Sea. In the Southern Hemisphere the Pacific and Atlantic mix in the relatively narrow Drake Passage between Tierra del Fuego in South America and Graham Land in Antarctica. The separation between the Pacific and Indian oceans is less distinct, but generally it is considered to lie along the line of islands extending eastward from Sumatra, through Java to Timor, thence across the Timor Sea to Cape Londonderry in Australia. To the south of Australia the boundary extends across the Bass Strait and thence from Tasmania to Antarctica. The portion of the Pacific near Antarctica sometimes is considered to be part of the Southern Ocean.

Because of the pattern of major mountain systems of the globe, a relatively small proportion (one-seventh) of the total continental drainage enters the Pacific—a total drainage area of less than about three times the total area of Australia. Of the rivers that drain into the Pacific, those of China and Southeast Asia are of the greatest importance; the basins of those rivers support more than one-fourth of the world’s population.

The eastern boundary of the Pacific is associated with the American cordilleran system, which stretches from Alaska in the north to Tierra del Fuego in the south. Except for its extreme northern and southern sections, which are characterized by fjords and their numerous off-lying islands, and except for the deeply indented Gulf of California, the coastal boundary is relatively regular and the continental shelf narrow. The western, or Asiatic, coastal boundary, in contrast, is irregular. Although the mountain systems there lie roughly parallel to the coast, as they do on the eastern Pacific coastlands, the western Pacific is noted for its many marginal seas. From north to south they include the Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan (East Sea), the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea. Their eastern boundaries are formed by southward-jutting peninsulas or island arcs or both. It is of oceanographic significance that the great rivers of eastern Asia—including the Amur, the Huang He (Yellow River), the Yangtze, the Xi and Pearl (Zhu), and the Mekong—enter the Pacific indirectly by way of the marginal seas.

This article treats the physical and human geography of the Pacific Ocean. For discussion of the physical and chemical oceanography and marine geology of the Pacific, seeocean.

Physiography

Relief

The Pacific basin may conveniently be divided into three major physiographic regions: the eastern, western, and central Pacific regions.

Eastern region

The eastern Pacific region, which extends southward from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, is relatively narrow and is associated with the American cordilleran system of almost unbroken mountain chains, the coastal ranges of which rise steeply from the western shores of North and South America. The continental shelf, which runs parallel to it, is narrow, while the adjacent continental slope is very steep. Significant oceanic trenches in this region are the Middle America Trench in the North Pacific and the Peru-Chile Trench in the South Pacific.

The seaward boundary of the western Pacific region is marked by a broken line of oceanic trenches, extending from the Aleutian Trench in the north through the Kuril and Japan trenches and southward to the Tonga and Kermadec trenches, terminating close to the northeast of North Island, New Zealand. Its structure is more complex than that of the eastern region. Characteristically associated with the ocean trenches of the western region are festoons of either peninsulas or islands or both. The islands, which include those of Japan as well as numerous smaller islands, represent the upper parts of mountain systems that rise abruptly from the deep ocean floor. The island clusters of the western Pacific form the boundaries of the several wide and deep continental seas of the region.

Cape Irō on Izu Peninsula, Japan.

Satoshi Ohkoshi—Orion Press/FPG

Central region

The central Pacific region lies between the boundaries of the eastern and western regions. The largest and the most geologically stable of the structural provinces of the Earth’s crust, it is characterized by expansive areas of low relief, lying at a general depth of about 15,000 feet (4,600 metres) below the surface.

Principal ridges and basins

To the east of longitude 150° W, the relief of the ocean floor is considerably less pronounced than it is to the west. In the eastern Pacific the Cocos Ridge extends southwestward from the Central American isthmus to the Galapagos Islands. To the south of the Galapagos lies the Peru Basin, which is separated by the extensive Sala y Gómez Ridge from the Southeast Pacific Basin, which in turn is separated from the Southwest Pacific Basin by the East Pacific Rise and indeterminate Pacific-Antarctic Ridge, which runs from the Sala y Gómez Ridge to Antarctica in the vicinity of 150° W.

Extending southward from the Tasman Basin (between New Zealand and eastern Australia) is the Macquarie Ridge, which forms a major boundary between the deep waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans. The Hawaiian Ridge extends westward from Hawaii to the 180° meridian.

The submerged parts of the series of ridges that are capped by the island archipelagoes of the western Pacific are continuous and are to be found at depths of less than about 2,000 feet (610 metres). These ridges include the Aleutian Ridge in the northwestern Pacific; the series of ridges extending southward through the Kuril, Bonin, and Mariana island groups, and the archipelagoes of Yap and Palau; those extending eastward from New Guinea, including the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon and Santa Cruz island chains; and, finally, the ridges extending southward, from which rise the Samoa, Tonga, Kermadec, and Chatham island groups, as well as Macquarie Island.

Bottom deposits

Apart from the narrow coastal zone of the eastern region and the broad continental seas of the western region, the Pacific is floored with pelagic (oceanic) material derived from the remains of marine plants and animals that once inhabited the waters lying above. Red or brown radiolarianooze is found along the zone of the Pacific North Equatorial Current, east of longitude 170° W, and on the floors of some deep Indonesian basins. A belt of diatom ooze occurs between latitudes 45° and 60° S and across the North Pacific, between Japan and Alaska. Calcareous globigerina ooze occurs in the shallower parts of the South Pacific, the dissolving power of the seawater at great depths being sufficient to dissolve calcareous material to such an extent that these oozes are not generally found at depths in excess of about 15,000 feet (4,600 metres). Silica-containing material, such as radiolarian and diatom ooze, is found at greater depths, but even these siliceous remains are dissolved at very great depths, where the characteristic deposit is red clay. Red clay, which covers no less than half of the Pacific floor, is believed to be formed of colloidal (extremely finely divided) clays derived essentially from the land.

Manganese nodules on the southern Pacific Ocean floor.

Courtesy of the Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University

On the abyssal plains, where sediments accumulate slowly, chemical and biological processes lead to the formation of metal-bearing coatings around objects such as the ear bones of fishes. The nodules so formed contain manganese, iron, nickel, copper, cobalt, and traces of other metals such as platinum. They cover large areas of the ocean floor in the Pacific. Similar processes form coatings, called manganese crusts, on the rock surfaces of seamounts.

Among the many different forms of land-derived muds (formed by the erosive action of rivers, tides, and currents) that floor the continental shelves and slopes of the Pacific, the yellow mud of the Yellow Sea is of particular interest. The mud is conveyed to the seabed by the Huang He, which drains a vast area of northern China blanketed with loess, a fine-grained soil.

Islands

The islands of the western region—including the Aleutians, the Kurils, the Ryukyus, Taiwan, the Malay Archipelago (including New Guinea), and New Zealand—are continental in character. Geologically, they consist partly of sedimentary rocks, and their structures are similar to those of the coastal mountain ranges of the adjacent continent.

Kraternaya Bay, Yankich Island, in the Kuril Islands, Russia.

Michael V. Propp

A geologically important boundary between the continental, or “high,” islands and the numerous truly oceanic, or “low,” islands of the Pacific is the Andesite Line, a region of intense volcanic and seismic activity. In the northern and western Pacific the Andesite Line follows close to seaward the trend of the island arcs from the Aleutians southward to the Yap and Palau arcs, thence eastward through the Bismarck, Solomon, and Santa Cruz archipelagoes, and thence southward through the Samoa, Tonga, and Chatham groups and Macquarie Island to Antarctica. Islands to the west of the line are rich in andesite, a type of intrusive igneous rock; islands to the east (oceanic side) of it are essentially of basalt, an extrusive igneous rock.

The numerous oceanic islands of the Pacific are unevenly distributed. They lie, in the main, between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn and occur in great numbers in the western Pacific. The northernmost chain of oceanic islands is associated with the Hawaiian Ridge. The Hawaiian archipelago consists of about 2,000 islands, although the term Hawaiian Islands is usually applied to the small group that lies at the eastern end of the archipelago.

The numerous small islands of Micronesia lie mainly north of the Equator and to the west of the 180° meridian. Nearly all are coralline; the principal groups are the Marianas, the Marshalls, the Carolines, Kiribati (Gilbert Islands), and Tuvalu (Ellice Islands).

Fongafale islet, Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu.

Matthieu Paley/Corbis

To the south of Micronesia lies Melanesia, which consists mostly of small coral islands. The region’s physiography is dominated by a group of large continental islands, however, including New Guinea. The principal Melanesian island groups are the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomons, Vanuatu (New Hebrides), New Caledonia, and Fiji.

Geology

Evidence drawn from various geophysical fields—seismology, volcanology, gravimetry, and paleomagnetism (remanent magnetism)—points to the general validity of the theory of plate tectonics. All the major physical features in the Pacific are understood to originate in plate tectonics. The western Pacific arcs of volcanic islands and deep trenches are convergent zones where two plates are colliding, one being subducted (forced under the other). The East Pacific Rise is an active spreading centre where new crust is being created. The northeastern Pacific margin is the strike-slip zone where the American Plate and the Pacific Plate are gliding laterally past each other via the major San Andreas Fault system. In the southeastern Pacific, however, the Nazca Plate and the South American Plate are colliding to form the Andes Mountains along western South America and, a short distance offshore, the Peru-Chile Trench. The floor of the northeastern Pacific is remarkable for its several major fracture zones, which extend east and west and which, in some instances, are identifiable over distances of thousands of miles.

Coral exposed at low tide on the Great Barrier Reef, off the northeastern coast of Australia.

William J. Hebert—Stone/Getty Images

Of great geologic interest are the seamounts (submerged volcanoes), guyots (flat-topped seamounts), and oceanic islands of the Pacific. The numerous tropical islands of the Pacific are mainly coralline. The principal types of coral reefs—fringing, barrier, and atoll—as well as the guyots, which rise within the Pacific from the ocean floor in latitudes north and south of the tropics, are explained partially by the slow subsidence theory advanced by the English naturalist Charles Darwin during the 19th century and partially by the theory of plate tectonics.

Climate

The wind and pressure systems of the Pacific conform closely to the planetary system—the patterns of air pressure and the consequent wind patterns that develop in the atmosphere of the Earth as a result of its rotation (Coriolis force) and the inclination of its axis (ecliptic) toward the Sun. They are, in essence, a three-celled latitudinal arrangement of the atmospheric circulation, with the systems in the Northern and Southern hemispheres mirroring each other on opposite sides of the Equator. The vast extent of open water in the Pacific influences wind and pressure patterns over it, and climatic conditions in the southern and eastern Pacific—where the steadiness of the trade winds and the westerlies is remarkable—are the most uniform on the globe. In the North Pacific, however, conditions are not so uniform, particularly the considerable climatic differences between the eastern and western regions in the same latitude. The rigour of the winters off the east coast of Russia, for instance, contrasts sharply with the relative mildness of winters in the region of British Columbia.

The trade winds

The trade winds of the Pacific represent the eastern and equatorial parts of the air circulation system; they originate in the subtropical high-pressure zones that are most pronounced over the northeast and southeast Pacific between latitudes 30° and 40° N and S, respectively. The obliquity of the ecliptic (an angle of 23.44° that is the difference between the planes of the Earth’s rotation on its axis and its revolution around the Sun) limits the seasonal shifting of the Pacific trade-wind belts to about 5° of latitude. The easterly winds between the two subtropical zones form the intertropical airflow and tend to be strongest in the eastern Pacific. The equatorial region, where the trade winds of the Northern and Southern hemispheres converge, is an area of calms or light variable breezes and is known as the doldrums.

Fog enveloping the Golden Gate Bridge, which spans the entrance to San Francisco Bay in northern …

The trade winds, especially in the eastern Pacific, convey relatively cool air toward the Equator; in moving, the air comes in contact with the sea and thus becomes increasingly humid and warm, and high lapse rates (the term used to denote the rate of change of air temperature with increasing height above sea or land surface) result. The average wind speed of the Pacific trade winds is about 15 miles (24 km) per hour. The weather in the trade-wind belts is normally fine, with relatively little cloud cover; such clouds as there are characteristically take the form of broken cumulus (small piles of clouds with flat bases) at about 2,000 feet (600 metres) above sea level. Precipitation, usually in the form of light showers, is slight.

Off the west coasts of the American continents in the trade-wind belts, upwelling of cold subsurface water causes the overlying air to be cooled below its dew point (the air temperature below which water vapour condenses as dew), with the consequent widespread formation of low, thick clouds. Fog in those regions is not uncommon.

Tropical storms

Although in general the climatic conditions of the trade-wind belts are characteristically regular and uniform, storms of great violence do originate there. In such storms, winds of exceptionally strong force spiral inward toward a centre of exceedingly low atmospheric pressure. These storms, generically called tropical cyclones, are known in the western Pacific as typhoons; Australians use the term cyclones for those that occur several times a year off that continent’s northeast coast and batter the Great Barrier Reef. While the mechanism that triggers typhoons and other tropical storms is not completely understood, ideal conditions for their development occur in the western Pacific between latitudes 5° and 25° N during late summer and early autumn, when the temperature of surface waters is at least 81 °F (27 °C). The regions to the east of the Philippines and in the South and East China seas are notorious for these storms, which imperil shipping and often cause severe coastal flooding accompanied by loss of life and property.

The westerlies

Within the belts of the westerly winds, cold easterly winds from polar regions meet the warm westerly winds of the middle latitudes, causing the formation of the traveling depressions characteristic of middle latitudes. The zone of convergence, or polar front, is most strongly developed in winter, when the contrast in temperature and humidity of the air between the converging flows is greatest.

The westerlies in the Southern Hemisphere are steady and strong, and their popular name, “brave west winds,” is apt. The gales that accompany the depressions have given rise to the term “roaring forties,” named for the latitudinal zone in which the storm winds are of greatest frequency.

The monsoon regime

The western Pacific is subject to a seasonal climatic regime that replaces the planetary system. This is the regime of the monsoon (rain-bearing winds), which is associated with the heating of the Asian landmass in summer and its intense cooling in winter. The heating of air masses over tropical Asia in summer initiates a low-pressure system, which becomes the focal point of the trade winds of both hemispheres. The doldrums, therefore, do not exist in the western Pacific during northern summer because of the immense flow of maritime air into the Asian low-pressure zone. The cooling of the continent in winter results in the development of the Asian high-pressure system, which leads to a strengthening of the trade winds of the Northern Hemisphere.

As a result of seasonal changes in pressure and wind circulation, marked seasonal contrast between continental and maritime influences—the first associated with drought and cold and the second with moisture and heat—is to be found in the whole of the western Pacific from the Sea of Japan southward.

Temperature and salinity

Temperature

The oceans tend to be stratified, the principal factor being temperature; the bottom waters of the deep parts are intensely cold, with temperatures only slightly above freezing.

The surface zone, where temperature variations are perceptible, is between 330 and 1,000 feet (100 and 300 metres) thick. It is more compressed in the temperate eastern Pacific, along the coasts of North and Central America, where cold water appears at a shallower depth compared with the central and western Pacific.

Ocean temperatures in the North Pacific tend to be higher than those in the South Pacific because the ratio of land to sea areas is larger in the Northern Hemisphere and because Antarctica also influences water temperature.

The mean position of the thermal equator (the line on the Earth on which the highest average air temperatures are found; the line migrates latitudinally with the changing angular distance from the Equator of the Sun) in the Pacific, although it lies in the Northern Hemisphere, is nearer to the geographic equator than in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.

There is a pronounced difference in temperature and salinity between the surface and deep zones of the Pacific. The deep zone, which contains about 80 percent of the ocean’s volume, has relatively stable temperature and salinity patterns; its average temperature is 38.3 °F (3.5 °C).

Salinity

The salinity patterns of the surface waters of the Pacific are influenced largely by wind and by precipitation and evaporation patterns. The waters within the belt of calm and variable winds near the Equator have lower salinities than those in the trade-wind belts. In the equatorial belt, relatively large amounts of rain fall and little evaporation occurs, both because of low wind speeds and because of the generally cloudy skies; salinity in the equatorial belt runs as low as 34 parts per thousand.

Latitudinal variation in precipitation and evaporation and its relationship to major wind belts and …

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The highest surface salinities in the open Pacific occur in the southeastern area, where they reach 37 parts per thousand; in the corresponding trade-wind belt in the North Pacific, the maximum salinity seldom reaches 36 parts per thousand. Pacific waters near Antarctica have salinities of less than about 34 parts; the lowest salinities—less than about 32 parts—occur in the extreme northern zone of the Pacific.

The heavy rainfall of the western Pacific, associated with the monsoons of the region, gives rise to relatively low salinities. Seasonal variations are significant in the western Pacific as well as in the eastern Pacific, caused by seasonal changes in surface currents.

Hydrology

Surface currents

Pacific trade winds drive surface waters toward the west to form the North and South Equatorial currents, the axes of which coincide with latitude 15° N and the Equator, respectively. Squeezed between the equatorial currents is a well-defined countercurrent, the axis of which is always north of the Equator and which extends from the Philippines to the shores of Ecuador.

The major part of the North Equatorial Current swings northward in the vicinity of the Philippines to form the warm Kuroshio (also called the Japan Current). To the east of Japan the Kuroshio swings eastward to form the Kuroshio Extension. The branching of this current in the region of 160° E results in the movement known as the North Pacific Current. The surface waters of the Bering Sea circulate in a counterclockwise direction. The southward extension of the Kamchatka Current forms the cold Oya Current, which flows to the east of the Japanese island of Honshu to meet the warm Kuroshio waters in the vicinity of 36° N. The cold, southeast-flowing California Current forms the eastern segment of the returning branch of the North Equatorial Current system.

The main part of the South Equatorial Current divides into three large branches as it flows westward. The two westernmost branches, on reaching the east coast of Australia, swing south to form the East Australian Current, which, becoming the Tasman Current, turns back to the northeast and dissipates west of New Zealand. The easternmost branch flows first to the south, roughly along the 180° meridian, before turning back to the east in the vicinity of 50° S as the warm South Pacific Current; between 80° and 90° W this flow turns northward and then westward as the Mentor Current, the waters eventually returning to the South Equatorial Current. Flowing between Antarctica and the South Pacific Current is the cold Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which constitutes the other portion of the South Pacific circulation system; as it reaches the South American coast in the region of 45° S, one branch flows northward along the coast to form the Peru (Humboldt) Current, and a second branch flows southward to pass through the Drake Passage.

Periodically—usually at intervals of three to four years—an anomaly of ocean currents and climatology called El Niño occurs in the South Pacific. This event is associated with the appearance of unusually warm ocean conditions off the tropical coast of South America and with changes in tropical atmospheric patterns (called the Southern Oscillation) that can adversely affect fishing, agriculture, and precipitation patterns along the west coast of South America. During particularly strong events, El Niño can cause weather anomalies in the equatorial and southern Pacific and in northeastern South America, Asia, and North America.

Deepwater circulation

Observations of temperature and salinity at different levels in the ocean reveal well-defined layers, each forming a water mass distinguished by its own temperature and salinity characteristics.

It appears that the most important influence on the vertical circulation of the Pacific is the cold water generated around the Antarctic continent. This dense circumpolar water sinks and then spreads northward to form the bottom layer of the greater part of the Pacific. It is thought that cold, deep water flows northward in the western Pacific in a relatively well-defined current from the vicinity of Antarctica to Japan. Branches from this deep main stream convey cold water eastward and then poleward in both hemispheres.

Deepwater circulation is influenced by the descent of surface water at zones of convergence of neighbouring water flows. In the Pacific Tropical Convergence, which coincides with the Equatorial Countercurrent, water sinks to a depth of about 300 feet (90 metres) before it spreads laterally. The Pacific Subtropical Convergences are located between 35° and 40° N and S. Water that sinks at the convergences spreads laterally at increasing depths as the distance from the Equator increases. The Antarctic Convergence lies in the zone of the southern westerly winds. A corresponding Arctic Convergence is prominent in the northeastern Pacific.

To compensate for downward-moving water, some water rises at zones of divergence, particularly along the so-called cold-water coasts of both North and South America, where upwelling of cold water is a well-marked phenomenon.

Tides

In contrast to the tides of the Atlantic—which are almost always semidiurnal (twice-daily) occurrences—those of the Pacific include many instances of diurnal (daily) and mixed tides. In the diurnal type of tidal oscillation, only a single high water and a single low water occur each tidal day (which lasts for about 24 hours and 50 minutes). Tides of this type occur in the Gulfs of Tonkin and Thailand in Southeast Asia, the Java Sea in Indonesia, and the Bismarck and Solomon seas north and east of the island of New Guinea. Mixed tides, in which both diurnal and semidiurnal oscillations appear, are characterized by large inequalities in successive high (or low) water heights. This type of tide is prevalent along much of the Pacific coast.

Mangroves (Rhizophora apiculata) at low tide on the coast of Thailand.

C.B. Frith/Bruce Coleman Inc.

At certain places in the South Pacific, the natural period of oscillation of the sea accentuates the solar tidal oscillation. At those locations the time of the am (or pm) high (or low) water occurs at approximately the same time for several days in succession, instead of getting later each day by about 50 minutes (as is generally the case). The tide at Tahiti, for example, follows the Sun and not the Moon—the time of high water occurring, day after day, at about midnight and noon and that of low water at about 6 am and 6 pm.

In general, tidal ranges within the Pacific are small. That at Tahiti is about 1 foot (0.3 metre); at Honolulu it is about 2 feet (0.6 metre); at Yokohama it seldom exceeds 5 feet (1.5 metres); and at Cape Horn it is never more than about 6 feet (1.8 metres). However, in the upper reaches of the Gulf of California and in Korea Bay, tidal ranges of 40 feet (12 metres) are common, while around most of Australia tides range from 6 to 33 feet (1.8 to 10 metres).

Britannica Web sites

The Pacific is the largest of Earth’s oceans. It covers more of Earth’s surface than all the dry land put together. The explorer Ferdinand Magellan named the ocean El Mar pacifico, which means "the peaceful sea."

The major feature of the Pacific Ocean is its enormous size: not only is it the largest ocean in the world, it is also the world’s largest single physical feature. With an area of about 64 million square miles (166 million square kilometers), it is twice the size of the Atlantic Ocean and occupies nearly one-third of the surface of Earth-more than the area of all Earth’s land surfaces. From north to south, the Pacific reaches from the Bering Sea, which is connected to the Arctic Ocean, to the Southern Ocean, which surrounds Antarctica. The Pacific’s greatest dimension stretches from east to west, with nearly half the length of the Equator lying across its surface. At its greatest width, the ocean extends some 12,000 miles (19,300 kilometers).

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